WEAVE Meeting #1 - Discussion

We then had a full introduction of the participants and statement on what each
person sees as the vision:

Beth Scannell (415, 695.1663): By profession I work at Hewlett-Packard
in Information Technology. I do a lot of things; web development, business
analysis. I'm also working on a master's degree in anthropology, where
I'm looking at cultural development in virtual reality. I mostly interact with
men, so I'm interested in seeing what kind of impact women can have. I'm also
expecting a little daughter. This (WEAVE) is exciting! I think there's so much women
can contribute to Cyberspace and to the culture that's lacking in what I can
see. The more we can get together and discuss these things, the more we can
have that impact.

Sun MacNamee: My friends call me Sun. I have been a tech chick for a long
time. Eva and I started a computer business together. Originally called
Utopian Technology. It became a huge business here called Abacus, Inc. We
pioneered a lot of concepts for getting computers in the hands of people who
might be afraid of technology. We called ourselves a one stop shop and we were
dealing with Apples and Compaqs primarily. I'm passionately driven by a belief
that the tools we're given, including our minds, are tools to help all the
creatures on the planet. Technology is potentially beneficial if used well.
I'm excited to be part of a women's partnership to turn this technology into
tools and not weapons, and to help people achieve their dreams. I want to help
people have access to all the resources they need. I'm an evangelist, a
devotee. I want to see these tools used wisely, not stupidly. I think if we
can get women interested in the technology, then it will be used for education
and beauty; if it's going to be left to the men, it will be used for war and
domination.

Eva Way: I love interacting with women. I have a dream I'd like to see
everyone connected to doing what they want to do connected to money. Lots of
potential for computers to do a good thing. Thank goodness there is still room
in this industry for funky people. I'd like to work less by being creative, and
hope by working with women together I will get in touch with other parts of my
brain that are too strained and not as creative as I would like. VR worlds are
already happening, as people want to be in touch in more interesting ways. WEAVE
chapters in all sorts of countries is an exciting idea, to put women in
communication with each other will help them feel less isolated.

Stephanie Sutton: I am very committed to women. I have a 14 year old daughter
so I am committed to making a future for her that would work for me. I have
been in an uphill battle working with men for 10 years. When I really got into
technology work, I was astounded at how hard it was to just be equal. This has
been with me since childhood since I was raised by an egalitarian father. I
think it's our concern to target young girls because the stuff is out about how
effected girls are by third grade. I watched it in my daughter. She shrunk as
a person in adolescence. She got concerned about her appearance and not her
mind. Technology wasn't an easy thing to go toward for me, being very girly and
dislexic all my life, and if only that could have been given to me at a young
age. To get technology to young girls is what is really important.

Judy Rubin: I work at Fujitsu as a contractor in a virtual world, the
Dreamscape and Pride Universe (in CompuServe) and another on the Web. I mostly
just write stuff. I've written documentation and press materials. I have had a
lot of opportunity to observe people interacting with avatars, and have a bunch
of concerns about virtual worlds. I think the most interesting thing is that
nothing really happens in a virtual world. Everything happens and nothing
happens. What really happens is what goes on between the people and what they
invent from moment to moment. Being a community activist in my own right, I see
the same kinds of things go on in virtual worlds as in the real world. I see
women come to the forefront in community - women who deal with complexity,
communication. It's important to have women in a virtual community. If we're
going to succeed with virtual communities in a commercial sense, women are the
ones who shop. They have to bring women in and bring money there. If it's
desired that they do it, they have to be reached. For me, there is this thing
about diversity. Right now, I think of virtual worlds as the ultimate suburb.
You can shut people out. The population isn't very diverse. I think this is
what's wrong in the real world as well. So I'd like to see a real diverse urban
experience in a virtual world. For WEAVE, what happens between people in the
real world must happen in the virtual worlds. We have to reach out to people
who aren't coming in and make it more diverse.

Angel: Thank you for calling this gathering. Part of my WEAVE is that I was a
technovirgin. I lived in a studio without electricity. When I met Sun and her
partner Allan, I was initiated into the world of technology and began to see how
my vision of global communications could be proliferated through technology.
Regarding virtual worlds, I don't know that much about them. I had some
difficulty with the representation of the avatar as just a head. We need our
whole bodies to be active. My interest in what could be done in virtual worlds
is specific: cultural diversity, meeting people from places we haven't heard
from before, where there is a way for them to communicate from afar in order to
discuss common issues concerning the evolution of our planet and humanity. I'm
interested in some artistic exchange in virtual worlds so that we could learn
about another culture. I'm very interested in children being able to
communicate with other people from diverse parts of the world so they can
explore their interests. I don't know how you can be artistic in a virtual
world except through the graphics in the creation of the world itself. But how
can this technology really work to provide a diversity of cultural and creative
exchange?

Barbara Hoffer: I was especially excited when you were considering
the date for this meeting and that it was as important for you as it was for
me to be here. I'm somewhat of a technovirgin. Since I've been in the professional
world, I have been working with women, in education (for 12 years) and community
building (back on the east coast). My background from there brought me into
the business world because I like to be around people who are making things
happen. My business experience has been focused on working with entrepreneurial
women for the last 15 years. But this technology is very foreign. I've wanted
to use it to communicate with many of my friends who I know are on line. But
my fear is that this technology would put people in front of a screen (I'm not
a TV watcher) and that it would be a barrier to communication. I think it's
apropos that we're meeting here in North Beach right before Valentine's Day,
because I think we'll use this technology to bring love to the planet. Stephanie,
you talked about reaching out to young girls. I just got back from the southwest.
Last night in New Mexico, I was speaking in the same hotel as Betty Friedan,
who spoke about the coming of age. We are living in the world we live in because
of her work in the 60s. What she spoke about is what's critical for WEAVE. She
spoke about not allowing women of any age to feel left out. We need to reach
not only the young girls, but the older ones, whose work makes our achievements
possible. We can bridge the generations.

Wendy: I wanted a women's group. I wanted to transform not only virtual space,
but the way women look at themselves. My first name for the group was WIVES, to
signify women being married to their spirit. But Barbara said she probably
wouldn't join an organization called WIVES.

Eva: Well, you either want to be one, or don't want to be one. But either way
it's one of the most emotionally charged words in the world.

Wendy: So I went over to WEAVE, Women Entering as Avatars into Virtual
Environments, with thanks to Barbara for helping me conceive of the name.
Interactivity is taking place more and more through Webcasting and virtual
environments. We're here to WEAVE our creativity, our feminine intuition.

Maggie: What would be the practical way, a concrete example of something WEAVE
can do?

Wendy: WEAVE is a SIG that is a part of the Contact Consortium, in which the
co-founder, Bruce Damer, supports fully. After "Earth to Avatars", the Contact
Consortium has multitudes of high level corporate sponsors. Basically, we can
go places and be taken seriously under the Contact Consortium umbrella. We have
a mecca of support at our fingertips.

WEAVE is going to be a gathering of like-minded women like we have here. We
will also have virtual gatherings. I'm thinking of using OnLive. I also found
out tonight that I'll be a contractor at OnLive. I see us having a balance
between virtual and real in WEAVE. I have contact with women in 7 countries who
want to be a part of WEAVE with us. I even see an international conference once
a year for WEAVE.

Maggie: What would be the reason for everyone to get together and chat?

Wendy: I have many ideas of what we can do together. One, for example, is that
we can hold seminars and classes for young girls. But we also need to help
people in our generation, cause the kids are more techno savvy than we are.
Through Match.Com I used to hold workshops for women. If we continue
progressive things as a group, we can also generate publicity.

Stephanie: We can have a seal called "WEAVE approved". We can examine what's
going on. My experience is that working with men in conferences, men keep women
out. If we create a WEAVE approved, they know we're going to come in and check
out whether things are in balance. Something to have some power in this
industry.

Wendy: Another option is that we can be like NOW, like they are in the
political realm, we'll be in the virtual realm. We'll have standards from
women. My mission is for Women to WEAVE their voice and skills into the virtual
landscape in order to invoke GREAT influence and change for the betterment of
society and business.

Barbara: And values. An exercise I can see this group doing is to look at our
personal values and from that choose actions that define purpose.

Wendy: When I hear values I think judgment.

Eva: I'm pro judgment.

Barbara: The question is what is the group going to do?

Stephanie: Put an internet connection in the hands of every girl and take this
straight to Al Gore.

Barbara: We should be in touch with the Women's Foundation because they want to
empower girls.

Judy: We can make contact with women's organizations and weave them in.

Stephanie: I can see us having a booth at Contact Consortium and we should have
something for housewives, too, who are intimidated by technology. There are so
many women who are being left out.

Sun: My mission statement is Women in technology working for the world.

Judy: I like enabling and/or creating meaningful social experiences.

Eva: I like a worldwide women's theme, reaching people who are different and
the same.

Beth: All kinds of diversity, indigenous people.

Sun: There are 400,000,000 people who feel that they don't have a voice in the
UN. The #1 problem women around the world have is getting their husbands to
stop beating them.

Maggie: There is so much great material out there that's not getting out there
because it's not moving. A friend of mine did a CD on domestic violence, it's
incredible. But no one knows about it.

Wendy: WEAVE is about compelling content. WEAVE can be a network to get that
out.

Judy: But if you put it in a women's site, only women will get it. I'd like
this stuff to get out into the mainstream.

Stephanie: But what we haven't done is create the Girl's Club planet wide. My
experience is that we need a Girl's Club. This is something that came to me 6
years ago. I get reaction to this all the time: it's an idea called the WON
Station, Women on the Net. My vision is a TV station that broadcasts for women
24 hours a day. I think that we can weave that in. I'm not a feminist per se
but ....

Judy: What's a feminist per se if you're not one?

Steph: I'm a revolutionary.

Wendy and Steph: We can do an all female Webcast.

Sun: PeaceNet has some very highly placed women. They put in internet
facilities for all the UN conferences. There are women on line and
organizations of women on line. We have to connnect with them.

Wendy: You have to clean up your own backyard before you spread your wings.
This is a WEAVE mind meld. The next meeting is going to be open to the public.
I hope to see you all there. I'd like to base it around an event; a political
or social event. Keep your ears and eyes open and let me know if there is
something happening that is worth noting. I have a WEAVE mailing list of all
the people in the months who've expressed interest. I'll be doing a weekly or
biweekly newsletter. So keep me filled up with content on what we see and what
we donšt see. Another thing is that I don't do HTML. I need a Webmaster.

Sun: I'll train.

Beth: I'm not a designer, but I know HTML, so I'll deal with the notes.

Wendy: I'll clean up the notes and flow them to Beth.

Angel: I'm into getting a list of women's organizations around the world and
getting contact with them.

As the first WEAVE meeting ends, the group of women form an enclosed circle, in
which they put their arms around each other and close with great fervor and with
great focus in being the powerful creative women that we are, and what we can
create together through a group such as WEAVE.